Unlike what your guidebook says, this is the best base for trekking to the Tambora crater. In Pancasila there is no accommodation except for staying with locals, and from the Tambora plantation guesthouse you start out an hour's walk closer to the mountain.

Basically there are two choices: staying in the guestroom of mr Soeparno the plantation manager, or in the barracks facing his house. The manager's house, built in Swedish style by a previous manager from Sweden, is best.

Either way you pay the same, Rp 100,000 for the room and Rp 100,000 for full board for a day. A tour of the plantation is free.

Address: Tambora plantation, Pekat district, Dompu regency.

Directions: From Calabai village it is 20 km via Kadindi and Pancasila villages. The 5 km from Calabai to Kadindi are in bad repair, further to Pancasila it is smooth riding, but the last 4.5 km are along an unpaved plantation road - difficult for a car with low clearance, especially the river crossing near Pancasila.When coming from Dompu it is shorter to take the turnoff from Pekat directly to Kadindi. That road is in somewhat better shape too than the Calabai-Kadindi one.